


Hiding

by navaan



Category: Batman (Comics), DCU (Comics)
Genre: Bat Family, Emotions, Family, Ficlet, Gen, Grief/Mourning
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-06-29
Updated: 2011-06-29
Packaged: 2017-10-20 20:27:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 804
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/216786
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/navaan/pseuds/navaan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Damian doesn't know his place now that his father is dead. Set between Final Crisis and the Batman Reborn stories.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Hiding

**Author's Note:**

> Written as a gift for the nice anonymous person that gave me one or all of the Charity V-gifts @ lj.

Damian had learned to keep people at a distance. His upbringing - his _birth_ had been far from normal. Growing up with barely more than the fleeting picture of a mother and only stories of a father had left him missing what most other children took for granted.

Most other children, not all. He’d seen orphans and child abuse, kids living in slums.

At the age of ten there was barely anything he _hadn’t_ seen.

When he had been very young, trained by the League of Assassins, he hadn’t know “family” to be anything more than a code of honor, a mystical connection invoked when one had to proof oneself as worthy. His mother had been the only love in his live and he hadn't seen much of her in the early years. He had been ecstatic when a few years later his mother had finally become part of his life.

Only to gradually understand that she needed him only as weapon against his father.

His father.

The father he had upset with his actions, and who had still reluctantly taken him in. Damian had just started to get a glimpse of who this man really was. Bruce Wayne, Batman, everything that was in-between. He hadn’t been able understand all that his father was trying to teach him, but he wanted to be part of _this_.

His father. The man that was now dead.

He felt shock and anger.

Looking at Grayson, Pennyworth and even that stupid Drake made him think that there should be something else he should be feeling, too. But he has no word for it.

Damian loathed them for their reactions. His fathers strange family. Even more did he hate the fact that he had know idea to how react to this tragedy.

He hated that all of them knew his father far better than he would ever have the chance to know him now. And more than anything else did he hate the fact that he wasn’t sure of his own place here. All of this was _his_ by right after all. He should be the heir to his father’s legacy. He was his only true son, right?

“Are you hiding from Alfie?” Grayson was standing in the door behind him, carefully watching him. His voice sounded tired, and Damian had a vague idea why. For days Grayson had been venting his own anger and pain by fighting the criminals of Gotham, often without showing his face. He was trying to keep up order, make it seem like the Batman was still here to protect his city.

But they were both painfully aware that he isn’t.

“I’m not hiding from anyone.”

But even Damian could see that they were both hiding from the decisions his father’s death had made necessary. He was only ten, but he had been brought up to be a leader and he understood that nos suddenly he was feeling lost, when he shouldn’t ever feel that way. He at least shouldn't be weak.

Damian had to decide now following in Bruce Wayne’s footsteps was what he truly wanted, now that he wasn't there anymore to teach him. Or should he leave this manor that now holds nothing for him and return to his mothers side? His father had been the one reason for being here. Even if they didn’t get along, Damian had wanted to make him proud. But why would he put up with all these stupid rules he didn't understand now?

And Grayson - he was struggling to make a decision how to go on, too. It was obvious to Damian that someone would have to take the lead, and for all the guidance he was willing to give them, it would not be Pennyworth. Both Dick and Tim knew they couldn’t just let anyone take the mantle, but they weren't yet able to decide how to proceed.

Weak. Hiding from their responsibility.

“I know you’re not,” Dick said softly. “But maybe I am.”

He looked up, surprised, gauging Graysons expression. For some reason he hadn’t expected Grayson to be aware of his own state of avoidance.

“Maybe you should stop hiding then.” It came out more harshly than intended. He wasn’t sure how to deal with these people.

Grayson gave him a small smile and said: “Yeah, right. Why don’t you come down to the kitchen? Alfred is making muffins.”

Damian couldn't help thinking that muffins should be the last thing on anybodies mind, but for the first time in a long while he didn’t feel like rebuffing the offer.

“Okay.” He followed Grayson down the stairs into the kitchen and thought that maybe there was a way for them to stop hiding together.

Not that he was going to tell him, of course.

If Grayson wasn't completely stupid, he'd figure this out himself.


End file.
